34 Pa. 239 | Pa. | 1859
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The plaintiff below, as tax collector, had settled
his duplicate and paid over the amount to the treasurer of the school board, including the tax due from the defendant, from which he had not been exonerated. The defendant then owed the tax to the plaintiff, and if the warrant had expired, payment of the debt could be enforced by suit at law. But in a suit by the collector, the defendant could not set off unliquidated damages arising out of a breach of a contract between himself and the school district. Certainly not under the pleadings in this case. That was a transaction between other parties; and if it were not, we are not prepared to admit that a tax-payer can interpose a claim of set-off against the collection of the tax assessed upon him. There was, therefore, no error in rejecting the evidence which the defendant below proposed to give.
Nor were the court mistaken in the view which they took of the warrant given in evidence. It was not a warrant for two years, nor void, as the plaintiff in error now contends. It is true that the school law, the Act of May 8th 1854, which authorizes the issuing of the warrant, declares that it shall confer like power and authority to enforce the collection of the school tax with that which the law then conferred, or might thereafter confer, upon the collector of county taxes; but it does not designate how long
The judgment is affirmed.